


Fettered

by Sp00py



Category: Little Nightmares (Video Game)
Genre: Biting, Broken Bones, Cannibalism, Children reading inappropriate literature, Crossdressing, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Dead Nomes, Dehydration, Dissociation, Drowning, F/M, Forced Nudity, Frottage, Head Injury, Licking, M/M, Molestation, Multi, Non-Consensual Blow Jobs, Non-Consensual Kissing, Past Child Abuse, Scratching, Starvation, Threesome, Violence, children fighting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:15:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29649126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sp00py/pseuds/Sp00py
Summary: RK's life was as good as it could be, after Six left the Maw and he somehow survived. Of course, all good things must come to an end in a world like this. Six has returned, and she's brought a friend with her.
Relationships: Mono & Six (Little Nightmares), Mono/Six (Little Nightmares), Mono/The Runaway Kid (Little Nightmares), Mono/The Runaway Kid/Six (Little Nightmares), The Runaway Kid/Six (Little Nightmares)
Comments: 48
Kudos: 226





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> cries in this-was-supposed-to-be-a-oneshot

RK saved so many from the Maw. Child after child freed. Most of them had left, hoping for families or homes RK doubted still existed, leaving it silent. He didn’t leave, though. It wasn’t like he liked the place, and it was full of rot and death, but so was the rest of the world. At least here, he knew Six wasn't. And when children sometimes washed up, he could take care of them, offer them a refuge to stay or leave, whichever they so choose.

Some stayed for a time, bringing information from all over the world. Children saw so much more than adults suspected. And they shared.

Tales of cities ravaged by technology, of villages torn apart by monsters. And still, children fought to survive. Still, they actually _did_. They traveled in search of missing friends and siblings. In search of those who couldn’t save themselves.

All left, eventually, and RK was alone again. He had moved into the Lady’s quarters with his army of Nomes and a little radio for company. He’d done so much for others, already. Now he was content to grow up a bit more before striking out. It was still novel, the idea of growing up. Surviving long enough to see the double digits. Maybe he'd actually figure out how old he was, one of these days.

He was learning how to read, piecemeal from older kids whose parents had taught them, then reinforced by Nomes who couldn’t talk but could point to objects and play a mean game of charades. The Lady had had children’s books tucked away in her library, dusty and full of the scrawlings of somebody who really, really liked their name, he assumed, but didn’t have the coordination to actually write it out. Probably the same somebody whose doll-like clothing he found tucked away in trunks and whose portraits graced the Lady’s walls.

RK tried not to think of the Lady as a mother or whatever she was to the girl, and just helped himself to the much cleaner and softer (if dusty) clothes and books and toys. He felt he deserved that much.

RK hung half off of his bed, a new book held above him as he sounded out the words. It was a more grown-up book, with far fewer pictures, but he had liked the cover and thought it wasn’t _too_ hard. If it was, he’d ask the Nomes for help.

“The un-i… unicorn lived in a… li-lac wood,” he mumbled, kicking his legs so the entire bed bounced. The last link of chain on his manacle clinked with each thud. He wondered what lilacs were. “And she lived all alone.” He read the sentence to himself again, then, pleased with his pronunciation, continued. “She was very old, thr… though --”

A Nome jumped on him, and he fell off the bed with a yelp. The large book smacked him in the face. RK sat upright, rubbing his nose, and contemplated the Nome as it hopped down to the ground, gesticulating wildly upward.

“Someone’s here?” He scrambled to his feet as the Nome continued to wave their arms. “It’s okay,” he told the Nome, patting its cone cap. “I’ll go see who it is.”

The Nome continued to flail, but RK was already running down halls and up stairs to get to the tiny entrance at the very top.

He stopped at the base of the stairs, looking around in confusion. The Nomes were usually here to greet children with food and blankets, but RK was completely alone. Footsteps drew his attention back to the stairs, and he squinted up into the bright sunlight filtering down. Two figures were descending.

“Hello!” RK called out, waving. One of them waved back, and he thought echoed his hello.

He rubbed the dazzle out of his eyes and stepped a little further into shadowy light of the foyer. This was one of the few places he’d worked hard to clear of bodies, with the help of Nomes and Maw children alike. He didn’t want the first thing kids saw (or smelled) to be piles of rotting corpses.

He bounced on the balls of his feet, chain chiming, waiting for the new children to reach the bottom.

RK’s heart stopped as they came into view on the lower steps. Yellow. Bright, poisonous yellow.

No -- she was gone -- she wouldn’t come back --

They descended further, a boy with a bag on his head and… and…. It was definitely Six.

“Hi!” the boy called out happily, letting go of Six’s hand to approach RK. “I’m Mono, and this is --”

He ran.

Just like the Nomes, just like anyone sane should do, RK ran from Six.

She collided with him, sending them both skidding across the floor. RK scrambled to keep going, but Six’s fingers caught in all the loose fabric of his clothes that were apparently too nice and well-sewn to helpfully tear so he could escape. He elbowed her in the face. Her grip slipped down to the hem of the dress.

RK got his legs under him and lunged, crashing right into the boy (Mono?) and sending them both toppling.

“Woah! Hey, hey, it’s okay!” Mono cried out, grabbing for RK’s arms.

Silence was for adults, for sneaking and hiding. This wasn’t an adult. This was another kid, who was keeping him from escape. “Let me go!” RK yelled, biting Mono’s wrist as soon as it dared wander too close to his mouth.

Mono yelped and shoved him off, only for Six to knock RK right back onto the taller boy with a cackle. Mono managed to flip RK over and sit on him, holding him down from doing anything it took to get distance between himself and Six.

RK glared up at Mono, who just peered down with those blank, black eyeholes. “It’s _okay_ ,” Mono repeated. Six leaned over from behind and waved.

“Get off me,” RK bit out, forcing himself to at least pretend to be calm. “And go away.”

“But we just got here?” Mono said, climbing off of RK and offering a hand for him to get up. RK got up by himself. His elbows and head hurt from getting knocked over so much.

“ _She_ ,” RK said, pointing at Six, “Is not welcome here.” He turned and walked _slowly_ away. Not looking like prey. He’d do the best he could to make sure Six didn’t stay, but hoped the Nomes were well-hidden deep inside the Maw.

“Didn’t Six come from here?” Mono asked, trotting to catch up to RK. He’d taken off his bag, and had it tucked under his arm. 

RK stopped. He could hear Six moving behind him like a predator, stalking. He refused to acknowledge her existence, and only barely acknowledged Mono’s.

“She did.”

“So this is like… her home? Are you her sister?”

“Am I -- no!” he said, voice cracking. He couldn’t help but turn to Mono in horror. “I’m -- we’re not related at all! And -- and I’m not a girl!”

Mono’s corpse-pale skin flushed, and his creepy dark eyes skittered over RK’s outfit. The dress was. Well, it was a dress.

“There aren’t a lot of options, okay?” RK said, suddenly feeling awkward about his comfy clothes. The Nomes didn’t care. Most kids didn’t, either, too busy being traumatized by the time they came to RK’s doorstep, and RK didn’t like to look at his reflection so it didn’t matter to him what he wore.

“Okay,” Mono said faintly, then, even softer, “Sorry.”

RK crossed his arms defensively, regretting the short sleeves putting a myriad of scars (scars from _Six_ ) on display. He hadn’t thought about it when he ran to greet them, too excited at the prospect of company. “Why are you here, anyway?”

Mono looked at Six. RK pointedly did not. “Six wanted to come back home.”

“What, not enough kids to torment on the Mainland? There aren’t any here, either,” he told Six, finally acknowledging her. She seemed entirely unbothered by his earlier shunning. “ _I_ freed them, and they all left."

She finally turned her gaze to RK and smiled.

“You didn’t,” Mono offered. RK got the distinct impression he thought he was being helpful, but it just sent an icy shard of fear through RK’s heart. Especially since he didn’t respond in any way to RK’s accusation that Six tortured kids.

“She…. she came back for kids?” he asked. _Don’t run. Don’t run._

Mono shrugged. “She didn’t say.”

“Oh, she talks now, okay.” RK turned to Six and, very stupidly, stared her right in the eye. “Why are you here?”

“Hungry.”

The single word carried an ominous weight to it that RK didn’t know how to handle. “There’s… there’s nothing here for you to eat,” RK said, swallowing and forcing himself to speak clearly. His voice wavered only a little.

Mono stepped forward and raised a hand to RK’s shoulder. “Are you okay?” he asked, as though there wasn’t a very real threat by the name of Six standing right next to them.

“If you won’t leave, I will,” RK announced to Six, knocking Mono's hand away. He turned on his heel and walked with measured steps, click-click-clicking every other one. His skin crawled, waiting for Six to attack.

He kept walking. She didn’t. Soon, RK turned a corner. Then and only then, he broke into a sprint.

Back in the Lady’s quarters, RK dragged the bedroom door closed and climbed up to lock it. He caught a glimpse of his own arm, littered with splotches and lines of paler skin. Cuts and burns from nasty little fingers and a lighter Six loved a little _too_ much.

He retreated to the pile of clothes he’d gathered in the closet and began to sort through them, thinking of Mono’s confused gaze, of Six’s blatant delight. Long. Long and amorphous and concealing. He didn’t have any of his old clothes, too tattered and disgusting to keep around. RK’s fingers trembled as he finally settled on a nightshirt and disentangled it from the rest. It was a little big, but bigger was better. Easier to curl up and hide in.

RK shucked off his dress and slithered into the shirt. He felt instantly a little better. Not a lot, but enough. He'd take any comfort, right about now. The sleeves draped over his hands and the hem dragged. He tightened the ribbon on the neck so it was closed tight around his throat. There. Covered.

He flopped to the ground bonelessly, then crawled under the bed. A collection of Nomes was already there, hiding in their hats. RK huddled up with them, wishing he had a hat to hide in.

The Maw’s noises, which had, if not been comforting, at least been familiar, suddenly had dark, strange origins. Creeping child feet and dragging nails to tear into flesh instead of pipes groaning and gentle water plinking. His years aboard the Maw had taught him that anything could be Six. That she was always there to corner him in vents and hold heated butter knives to his skin until he howled, or to sneak into his bed when he was chained and claw like a feral beast at the skin of his belly, while he just struggled to remain silent and avoid the even more dangerous attentions of the adults. And more, and worse, and things he didn’t remember during but spent the rest of the night crying after. But then she'd _left,_ and he'd been free. He thought.

RK’s constant dread at each and every sound exhausted him, until he found himself nodding off in startled spurts and droops. It had been long enough for Six to have gotten bored and left, right? There really wasn’t anything here for her or her weird dead-eyed boyfriend. The Maw was full of corpses and ghosts and one very scared little boy. It wasn’t worth it to stay.

Something hooked into the chain on his manacle and dragged him screaming before he was even really awake out into the open. Nomes scattered. One shrieked a piercing, agonizing cry.

“No!” RK cried out, clawing at the dense carpet as he was yanked across it, scraping away a layer of skin. Blood, stale and cold like the Nomes themselves, splashed across his back. A thump. A little, sad body, right in front of RK’s eyes, only a few inches away. He froze, then forced himself to flip around and face Six, because it could be nobody else.

She stood over him, bare feet on either side of RK’s hips. He couldn’t see her face from this angle, but for the impression of her smirking down at him. She seemed… taller. He hadn’t noticed before, too busy being terrified and trying to get away, but now he was both terrified and directly below her.

Six plopped down right on his stomach. RK coughed a breath at the sudden weight. His hands flew up protectively, but.... she didn’t do anything. He peeked warily through his fingers.

“What… Where’s bag boy?” he asked tentatively. Something wiggled near his leg, tugging the manacle that grew icy cold for some unfathomable reason.

“Just me.”

She was going to kill him. RK thought that suddenly, horribly unfair. He’d worked _so hard_ to survive. And he had. Again and again. Creeping into the most dangerous places, facing all the evils the Maw contained. Rescuing kids, when Six had just left them to rot like the Guests.

Six grabbed his wrists and held them to the sides of his head, her short nails digging into his skin like knives as though the fabric between them didn’t exist. She was breathing shakily. Not like she was out of breath but in excitement. RK knew that sound intimately. It flung him into dark places shared by nightmares when all he wanted to do was escape. _Breathe_. He jerked to free himself, only for her to put her full weight painfully on his wrists. She rubbed herself against his stomach like some freaky cat in heat.

He writhed, kicking at the carpet, until that same thing from before yanked his leg out flat again. Six gave a pleased little sigh as she undulate. RK felt a weird wetness through the fabric on his stomach. His eyes flickered down to where her raincoat was bunched up from their position. She wasn’t wearing anything underneath.

“Wh-what are you doing, Six?” he asked, curling as much as he could away from her. Given the floor right at his back, there wasn’t much room.

“Making love,” she mumbled, grinding harder at his belly.

“What,” RK squeaked, a confused and frightened blush on his face. He heard that wrong, right? Did Six say she loved him? “I don’t think this is how you do that,” he ventured, even though he had no clue what she was doing in the first place. Maybe she’d get off of him and… getting off of him was a good start. Focus on that, figure out the rest later.

Six rolled her eyes. Hands -- not her hands, _so very much not her hands --_ wrapped around his arms, like ice water splashing across him. She slithered down to sit on his legs, hiking up his shirt.

“Oh, no,” he said very intelligently, realizing what she was doing. A litany of protests spilled out as Six found his privates. Of course, RK had explored so knew the basics at least of himself, but that was vastly, horribly different from this. She squeezed experimentally. “Bag -- Mono! Mono! HEY ARE YOU THERE!” he shrieked to the room at large, hoping against hope he’d followed Six.

Six shot up and covered his mouth with her hand. “Sh!” she hissed. At least that meant she wasn’t touching him down there. And she didn’t want Mono to find out.

“Fuck you!” RK said, though it just sounded like muffled nonsense. He bit her, instead.

Six yelled and yanked her hand away. The things around his wrists weakened.

RK jabbed at her, knocking her off of him, and used the opportunity to drag himself to his feet. The leg with his manacle crumpled, completely numb all the way to the knee. His wrists had the same ache blooming where Six had grabbed him. A new fear of something she’d done to him, but something he’d have to worry about later.

RK stumbled to the bed and climbed clumsily onto it, not sure where he was going, only that he had to get away, and beneath the bed was no longer safe. The duvet vanished from under him, tugged away by Six, and he flopped face down, arms giving way. Six pounced before he could react.

Teeth sank into his shoulder. His scream was muffled by the mattress as Six dug his face into it.

Once his cries died out and he was legitimately worrying about suffocating, Six flipped him over. RK sucked down great, gulping breaths. It was no fair. She was taller, now, and stronger. And had terrifying tentacle hand things????? Clearly RK had just fallen asleep reading scary stories again, and this was all some horrible nightmare. Six had a talent for causing those.

Six dragged her nails up his thighs, leaving bloody furrows in her wake. Agony too real for sleep -- too strange for his own mind to have conjured. His legs trembled from the cold and pain and sheer terror coursing through his veins. He wished he would wake up.

Her fingers found him again, and then there was a sudden, wet warmth between his legs. RK yelped, spasming against the icy shadows holding him down. What -- What was she -- His frantic gaze darted down, to where Six’s head had disappeared up under his nightshirt.

“Six,” he choked out. She hummed, and the vibrations traveled all through his body, making RK whine.

Her head bobbed, fingers dragging over and over along his thin, quivering thighs. Every new scratch stung, throbbing heat piling up as blood welled and dotted the bed.

“Siiiix,” RK gasped as his hips jerked. He couldn’t tell if it was to get away from the pain or to go deeper into the warmth of her mouth, but either way it frightened him. All sorts of new, slimy sensations were writhing in his belly, mixing up with the pain. RK hated the way it felt, even as his body disagreed and did anything to chase this sensation.

“Stop,” he barely managed to gasp out, body straining for more as Six sucked and nibbled and did horrible, awful, _terrible_ things with her tongue. RK’s hands clenched pathetically at his own sleeves, toes curling. “Stop, _stop_ , _stop--”_

He arched away from the bed, muscles so taut they felt about to snap as his cries stuttered away into a breathless sigh. RK slumped into the mattress, bones jelly. Like some disgusting vampire, she'd stolen all his energy. His thighs ached and twitched with sensitivity.

Six crawled up, lips reddened and wet, cheeks flushed and eyes dark. RK did not like the idea that he looked similar, though he could feel the heat across his face.

The stabbing cold faded from his arms and legs, lingering as a painful tingle at his right ankle. She dropped something onto his face, then rolled off the rumpled bed. She left, like this was just another torture session from when they were younger. But this wasn't normal. This wasn't routine. He felt filthy, inside and out.

RK shivered with residual… whatever she’d done to him. He bit his lip until he could focus on that instead the threat of tears. Tears never did anything but excite monsters

When he felt strong enough to sit up, the thing on his face fell into his tender lap. A Nome’s cap.

  
  
  
  
  


He needed food. It had been at least a day since… since Six had visited him, and once the initial shock had faded (it lingered for far too long, like some stasis he'd found himself trapped in), RK threw himself into surviving, like he always did. Change his clothes, again, because what he wore had blood and other stains on it. He wished he had some pants or something, but the girl who his clothes previously belonged to clearly didn’t care for them. He found a shift and bloomers. No sleeves, but fuck having his arms showing. If Mono was friends with Six, he'd probably seen (and done) worse. RK needed mobility, right about now. Six would chase him if he ran, but she'd _definitely_ catch him if he didn't run.

The Lady’s residence was no longer safe, but neither was anywhere else on the ship, so he’d go to the kitchen, then figure out what his next course of action was from there. The Chefs had left of their own accord, abandoning mounds of rotting meat and vegetables. RK had separated the food that would last from that which wouldn’t ages ago, back when he was really beginning to make this his home. (So much for that, now.) He couldn’t stand to eat even the meat that was fine, aged and preserved, not after all the bodies. Not without knowing exactly what everything was.

The elevator doors slid open. RK slunk into the kitchen. There, he found Mono, contemplating a bunch of carrots almost the size of his body. Those were RK's carrot.

“Oh, hi,” Mono said very carefully, afraid of spooking RK, even though it was far too late to worry about that. RK’s gaze flickered to the carrots. “Did you… want some?”

RK took a step back, wary of a trap. Six could be anywhere.

“Six?” he whispered.

“She’s uh… I don’t know what you guys call it. The fancy place up highe--eh?”

As soon as he knew Six wasn’t there, RK snatched the carrots by their wilted leaves and began to drag them away. Mono caught the other side and helped pick them up, matching pace with RK.

“We can share,” he said. “Six doesn’t eat vegetables.”

“She said she was hungry,” RK muttered. “Veggies are food. They’re the only food I have here.”

“That’s… you know that’s not what she eats.”

Great. He wasn't going away. Though... maybe that was a good thing. RK plopped down in the middle of the hall and began gnawing on a carrot. Mono sat down cross-legged and snapped off the tip to nibble on. Despite himself, RK found Mono’s company a tiny bit soothing. Six hadn’t seemed to want him to know what she had done. RK would tie himself to Mono until they left, he decided.

“There really aren’t any other kids here?” Mono asked. “Six seemed so sure…”

“No. I made sure of it. Why does it matter?”

Mono was silent for a long while. “You’re really not related to Six?”

RK choked on a bite of carrot, and coughed until he dislodged it. “I _am not_ ,” he bit out, thinking of all the things she’d done to him, all the things he certainly _hoped_ a sister wouldn’t do to her brother. What no kid should ever do to another, but somehow worse if they were related.

“And you don’t know what she’s like when she’s hungry?”

“Why would I care about if she’s hungry or not,” RK muttered.

“So why are you so afraid of her?”

“Because she’s a _monster?”_ RK asked, like Mono was an idiot. “The things she -- “ A flash of Six holding him down, of Six sliding between his legs -- “She likes hurting people. She hurts _kids_ , bag boy.”

Mono tensed, a scowl on his face. “She needs to eat!”

RK was about to snap that he didn’t care, before the implications of what Mono said settled in. _She needs to eat,_ in response to RK telling him she hurt kids. So... she hurt kids to eat. She was here because she was hungry, and she thought there’d still be children. RK was the only one here. His breath sounded all funny to his ears.

“Hey, are you okay?” Mono asked, his anger melting immediately.

“How did you get here?” RK asked, forcing as much nonchalance as he could into the question.

“A boat.”

“Is it still here?”

Mono squinted warily. “The dinghy we stole is,” he said slowly. “But you can’t make it very far in just that.” As RK stood, so did Mono. He grabbed onto his arm. “Hey, it’s okay. She won’t eat _you_.”

RK highly doubted that. He didn’t want to leave. He liked his books and his Nomes and his radio. He'd planned to just wait her out, but now he knew he couldn’t stay, if she was here. And if he took the boat, then Six would be trapped. The Nomes could hide, and maybe she’d eat her friend, but then… then maybe she’d do what she should have done ages ago and go off and _die._ Unless more kids came, in search of refuge.

“We’ll go somewhere else,” Mono said as RK tried to pry his hand loose. Like Six, he was taller than RK, and stronger. Maybe he ate kids, too. That would explain his calmness about her diet. Birds of a foul, rotting feather, growing up big and strong into the monsters they hid behind the faces of children. RK twisted and yanked his arm more frantically.

“So she can eat kids there, too?”

“It’s that or die,” Mono snapped, squeezing harder against RK's efforts. At the flash of pain on RK’s face, he quickly let go. “Sorry -- uh -- It’s just something she has to do. She deserves to survive, like anyone else.”

RK stared at Mono like he had two heads. He wasn’t even going to bother arguing with that level of lunacy. So he didn’t. He turned right around and walked away. Still hungry, but he'd survive. At least long enough to deal with this situation.

  
  
  


He was swinging a pipe against some pillows, getting a feel for it, when Six found him again. RK tucked his arms in, trying to make himself small as she sauntered right over. His wrist where Mono had grabbed it was already beginning to bruise.

“What?” he asked, fingers clenching around the base of the pipe as he pushed himself back against the pillows.

She pointed at the pipe. “What’s that for?”

It was so weird, hearing Six speak. RK had always assumed she was mute, aside from huffy little laughs that stabbed like ice picks. But though her voice was raspy and quiet, she pronounced words confidently. She probably talked with Mono far more than she ever bothered to talk to RK. He dreaded to think the sorts of things she would have told him.

“I heard you eat kids now,” RK said, trying to stay conversational, like this was all normal and Six wasn’t practically on top of him (again). That was a terrible topic, but he’d panicked, and for some reason, her eating kids was _right at the front of his mind._

Six smiled. He hated that smile so much. Smug and calm and completely in control. He remembered the flame of her lighter flickering in her eyes as she stared at him like that, so very long ago. Somehow, that was less awful than right now, even though he’d had blisters all over his arms then, and only scars remained.

“Six?” Mono called. She immediately stepped back. RK was never so relieved to see those dead black eyes.

“Hi,” she said, casual as could be, turning toward Mono. RK’s grip tightened on the pipe, heart in his throat as he realized something both wonderful and terrifying.

Six was completely exposed. All of her attention was on Mono. He was talking to her about something, RK didn’t care what.

He carefully, slowly changed his grip on the pipe. He’d not had as much practice swinging it as he’d like, but the principle was pretty straightforward. Swing. Hit. Keep swinging.

RK crept forward. Six was bouncing a little on the balls of her feet, excited by whatever Mono was telling her.

He swung.

He hit.

He didn’t get a chance to swing again.

Six crumpled, which was surprisingly _not_ a good feeling for RK. Mono cried out in surprise, then took RK's moment of weakness to leapt at him, intercepting the pipe and wrenching it from RK’s hands. His other caught RK by the upper arm

RK was less conflicted about fighting face-to-face. He kneed Mono in the groin. Mono released both the pipe and RK with a pained gasp, and he scrambled for it.

Mono flopped on top of him, squishing the air from RK. He just barely missed the pipe. Mono grabbed it first.

Okay, new plan. Go kill Six with his bare hands.

RK kicked at Mono, knocking him over again, before leaping onto Six, who groaned, face down. RK tangled a hand in her hair, jerking her head back. His other arm wrapped around her neck. Six gagged, fingers clawing at his arm, leaving new injuries over years of old.

“Mono!” she managed to gasp out, and RK _refused_ to feel bad about how scared she sounded. He liked it better when she didn't talk.

“Shut up!” he yelled, drowning out her pathetic little noises. Ignore the smallness of her hands. The face that looked so much like his own turning purple. This wasn’t a child he was strangling to death. It was a monster. It was _Six._ Keep squeezing.

Something collided with his head, sending a wave of agony through his skull. RK plunged into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was expecting the monix to be a little... different than what it turned out as. oh well

RK woke up with a splitting headache and blood crusting into his hair. Neither of which surprised him, once he had the sense to process what had happened. Though the fact he had woken up at all was a surprise. Six should have killed him for attacking her. She always got worse if he tried to fight back.

Moving would have to come slowly, so for now RK tried to learn what he could of his new predicament. Cold floor. Metal. A light swaying with the movements of the Maw, casting long, thin shadows. Bars. He was in a cage somewhere in the bowels of the ship. RK choked down the instantaneous panic at the mere thought. Though it had been a while (he had hoped forever), he’d been in cages before. Plenty of them. And he always escaped. He’d do it this time, too.

A hand came to rest on his head. RK flinched, but no (new) pain followed. Instead, it just pet gently, mindful of the giant bump. He squinted up through his hair.

Mono. RK didn’t understand him at all. He assumed Mono was the one who’d knocked him out, but now the guy looked genuinely relieved that he was awake.

“I have dinner, if you feel up to it,” Mono offered, pulling his hand back. “You’ve been unconscious for… a while.”

RK climbed gingerly to his knees, fingers wrapped around the bars. He relaxed his head against the cool metal. Just gonna rest here for a bit.

Food sounded good, and also terrible. He should eat, though. He hadn’t had much before and would need his strength.

“Yeah, sure.”

Mono climbed to his feet and disappeared out of RK’s view. He came back shortly with two chipped cups full of soup. RK took one carefully in both of his hands, contemplating the things floating inside. The warmth was nice against his cold fingers.

“Is there meat in here?” he asked.

“Yeah, I found some sausages.”

RK set the cup down just outside the bars. “Nevermind. I’m not very hungry.”

Mono looked at his own cup of soup. “So…. no meat, huh?”

“Maybe  _ Six _ would like some,” RK muttered.

Mono took both cups and dumped them down a nearby drain, then returned to RK.

RK slumped against the bars, eyes closed. “Why are you helping her, anyway? You don’t seem bad.”

“I’m not bad! And neither is Six. If you just give her a chance.”

RK stared at the pale skin of his arms, littered with all the chances Six had to prove she wasn’t bad. The first time he’d met Six, he had thought she was amazing. She was another kid, surviving in the Maw, practically feral. RK had been impressed.

He’d been cornered by the janitor, already seeing a one-way ticket to the kitchens in the bundles of wiggling cloth sliding by. But then a vent had opened and a yellow-clad head had poked out. She’d waved him in, just as blind hands groped for him. They’d escaped, together, to the relative safety of some sort of boiler room, full of pipes and old wood and tools. Six had a little bed made out of a luggage case and musty clothes. She wasn't just surviving, she was thriving, so far as he could see.

She’d invited RK to rest on it, and he’d collapsed gratefully. He hadn’t even thought about it when she took his arm in her hands and began to study his fingers, his joints, his small nails. It felt nice, not being grabbed and yanked around and thrown into cages, and he let her move each finger and trace the skin.

But then she’d wrapped her hands around his arm and began to twist violently, like wringing out a towel. RK had gone from blissfully dozing to alert and biting back cries almost instantaneously. “Stop it!” he whispered frantically, shoving at her. She just dug in harder, nails dragging with every wrench.

“Stop it!” he yelled louder, in case she hadn’t heard. Adults never paid attention when a kid told them no, but other kids were supposed to stop if you told them to. That was how it worked. That was how it was  _ supposed  _ to work, but she’d just bit him and knocked him back with all the weight of a five year old. Since RK was also that many years old, he fell over easily. Six had kept rubbing at his arm until it was bright red and skin was rubbed right up.

His flailing limbs eventually curled up, body shaking as he cried. That was when she finally stopped, attention caught by something new. Her fingertips pressed against RK’s cheek, and he flinched, expecting her nails to drag down. Instead, Six’s tongue, warm and soft and gross, replaced her fingers, and she licked his tear tracks on both sides.

He’d let her lick him, shuddering silently, until she got bored and left. Then RK had crept away, no real clue where he was going except away from Six, mind reeling at the pain lacing up his arm, only to immediately be snatched up by the Janitor.

They were still small, but back then they’d been even smaller, the world even bigger. And Six had all the makings of a monster, already.

RK examined Mono, trying to decide just how much of a monster  _ he _ was. If maybe he could convince Mono to let him go. He seemed gullible enough, if he thought Six was fine. Okay. He could do this. His head hurt so much.

RK leaned against the bars, slipping one hand out to cover Mono’s on the ground. “I shouldn’t have attacked her,” he said very, very carefully. “You’re right. I didn’t give her a chance. I don’t know her like you do.”

Mono’s creepy dead eyes lit up, and he covered RK’s hand with his other one. “Yeah! I don’t think she even wants to eat you, but I can ask her not to, if you’re worried about that.”

Suddenly it was very hard for RK to speak. How easily Mono decided that he was  _ worth _ keeping alive, as though the fact that he was a person and that alone meant he should be allowed to live didn’t register in that at all. “Th-thanks,” he choked out. Focus on getting out.

A noise of footsteps -- fuck, RK had only just begun working at Mono. That hasn't been nearly enough time to make any progress. He tried to pull his hand back, but Mono had laced their fingers.

Six came to a standstill several feet away. Though he refused to look at her face, RK could feel her stare burning into their clasped hands. He continued to tug desperately, but Mono wasn't taking the hint.

“Did you find anyone?” Mono asked, as though death herself wasn’t standing right there. For how hard he thought he hit her, she seemed to be doing much better than RK.

“No. It’s empty.”

Mono deflated, and as his grip weakened, RK quickly extracted his fingers. “I’m sorry. I thought I saw someone.”

“Shadow kid,” RK mumbled.

“What?”

“Shadow kids. They’re not -- there’s nothing for you to eat here.” Though they had once been his enemies, RK felt bad for them now. When the Lady had died, instead of following her like he would have expected, the shadow kids still alive had simply dispersed to other parts of the Maw, wandering aimlessly, playing with old blocks and balls. They stayed away from him, and he stayed away from them. It worked. He didn’t want Six hunting them down just for fun or something sick like that. “Just leave them alone, okay?”

“Okay,” Mono agreed, even though it wasn’t him RK was worried about. But then Mono brightened. “Oh, Six! He -- sorry I don’t actually know your name -- told me he felt bad about hitting you, and wanted to get to know you better. Isn’t that great?”

Of all the -- he hadn’t expected Mono to tell Six that. He had thought he’d let him out, first. RK glanced up at Six, just a quick peek before he dropped his gaze again. She was staring at him, head tilted, like a predator deciding what to do with its prey.

“You were holding his hand,” she said. She didn’t  _ sound _ angry, or confused, or like anything much, really. RK pushed himself further back in the cage. It seemed tinier than it used to be.

“Oh,” Mono said, looking at his own palm as though realizing he had been. “Yeah, I guess so. We were talking and --” his explanation cut off as Six grabbed his wrist and bit his hand. RK’s head snapped up at the sudden attack. She was staring directly at him while Mono yelped and writhed.

Her teeth released, and even from the shadows of his cage, RK could see the marks left behind. His hand came up to his own shoulder, where tender skin was molted and bruised from Six’s earlier attack.

“Six?” Mono squeaked as Six shoved him back, bonking his head on the bars. RK tensed, trapped, sure he was about to see Six rip Mono’s throat out right before his eyes. And without Mono there, RK knew who was next on the menu.

“S-Six!” Mono stuttered out, jerking against the bars, hands wrapping around them for support.

_ Just attack her _ , RK found himself thinking, squishing himself tighter into the wall, as though he could phase right through. Hypocritical, to tell Mono that. He’d never fought back. He’d just let Six hurt him, for years. And then she’d left of her own accord. RK hadn’t even had a hand in that. _ Attack her, fight back -- do something that’s not just dying! _

“No-- Six, not in front of --” Mono was having trouble breathing, Six’s teeth at his throat. Her eyes remained locked on RK. He swallowed nervously, waiting for the blood to spray, for the words to give way to bubbling screams.

“Leave him alone,” RK whispered. Mono might be mad, he might even be  _ evil _ , but RK didn’t want to see him murdered right in front of him. He didn’t want to see  _ anyone _ die in front of him. Not even, though he hated to admit it, Six. Not after watching her collapse before. He tried to speak louder. “Stop it, Six!” She'd never listened before, but what else could he do?

Six lifted her head from Mono’s neck. He was breathing in rapid-fire panic, fingers clenching and unclenching on the bars. Her own hands came to the bars for support, knees on either side of Mono, caging him in. Cheeks flush and eyes bright, she undulated against him, pulling new noises from him. New, definitely not pain noises.

Oh.  _ Oh _ .

Mono’s hands came to rest on Six’s hips as his own jerked up, succumbing to his fate. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. RK had no clue who he was apologizing to, or why it sounded like he was crying.

RK closed his eyes and covered his ears, burying his face into his knees. He didn’t want to see Mono’s shoulders shaking or Six’s gleeful stare, didn’t want to hear the slap of skin, the sniffles, the sighs. He could hear them, anyway, muffled but far, far too loud and close. The cage shifted with their movements, scratching an inch forward, an inch backwards as they fucked against it. Or as Six fucked Mono, who was  _ crying _ .

Eventually there was a shuddering sob (definitely a sob, there was zero joy in the choked sound), and the cage stopped rocking. RK kept himself blinded, but let his hands fall to circle around his legs, holding them tighter as he tried to steady his breath. He could hear stuttery, sad noises that slowly, slowly faded.

A hand crept in to gently touch his knee.

RK screamed, slamming himself against the back of the cage, though there was nowhere else to go. It took him a blinding moment of terror to realize it was Mono out there, not Six. His cheeks were ruddy, and his eyes red around the edges, like he’d rubbed at them too hard.

“Are you okay?” Mono asked, retreating to grip the bars.  _ No _ . RK didn’t say that, though.

“Are  _ you _ ?” RK asked right back, world still a jumble. Head hurty. Shouldn’t have smacked it on the back of the cage. “She.. was doing something bad to you.”

“Six does that sometimes. She -- it’s fine,” Mono fumbled. “It’s not  _ bad _ . It’s how people show they love each other.”

“Making love,” RK said blankly, remembering Six’s bizarre statement from before. There had been absolutely no love in what she’d done to him, or what she’d done to Mono.

Mono smiled in relief. “Yeah.”

“No,  _ no _ ,” RK said, crawling forward until he had his hands wrapped around Mono’s on the bars. “That is not -- whatever that was, it’s not love. It’s not  _ fine _ .”

Mono scowled, but the tear tracks made it look more like a pout. “What do you know about love? You’re just a little kid.”

“So are you! I’ve had friends, before, bag bo-- Mono. I’ve had lots of friends. None of them did that to me. Friends don’t make their friends cry for fun.”

“I just -- I --” Mono sputtered and pulled away. “Six is different, but she’s still my friend! She -- we do that together, because we’re friends, and it feels good. She’s a better friend than anyone!”

RK doubted that so much that he couldn’t fathom how Mono ever thought Six capable of friendship. Horribly, though, he suspected Mono was being entirely sincere. This poor, mad boy.

“She’s not,” he said quietly, almost to himself, as though making sure at least one of them knew the truth. “She hurts you.”

“I  _ like it _ ,” Mono insisted. “I like being Six’s friend. We take care of each other.”

RK stared at him through the bars of his cage.

“I love Six, and Six loves me,” Mono said unprompted. Six wasn’t even here to sway his words or scare him into loving her. This was all Mono.

“How long have you known each other?” RK asked, finally, seeing Mono’s eyes growing watery and his breath stuttering.

“Three years, I think,” Mono whispered, then, more strongly. “Yeah, at least that long. And in all that time, she’s been amazing. You’ll see.”

_Three years_. Years of this sort of treatment . RK nodded, no longer bothering to fight Mono on this topic, and he sank down into a puddle on the floor of the cage. His head hurt so much. It was only in part due to the head trauma, anymore.

“I’m sorry,” he said to the cage floor.

“For what?”

“Just…” RK wasn’t actually sure why he felt sorry, or how to put it into words. “It’s not your fault when she hurts you,” he finally settled on, thinking of all the times he berated himself for following her, or allowing her to corner him. Letting her hurt him to avoid worse things. RK was well-versed in self-loathing, but he’d learned. Maybe Mono would, too.

“I know that!”

“I know.” He closed his eyes. Not sleeping, but wishing he could.

  
  
  
  


Mono left him. RK wasn’t surprised. He told the truth, and Mono wasn’t ready to hear it. He probably pushed away his only chance of escape with that. RK sighed.

This was all too familiar. The cages. The nothing to do as time trickled away. RK tried not to linger on the memories. The waiting for the janitor to come. For death. He’d fought so hard every other time, found ways to pick locks or dislocate joints for that hair’s breadth of leeway to slip between bars loosened by other kids. RK had done anything to survive.

But the janitor was dead, arms severed, lying in a pool of blood as leeches feasted, and he was now too big to fit through bars anymore. And his head still hurt, though with time the pain was passing.

RK shifted, stretching his cramping legs through the bars to give himself a little more room. His manacle almost gave him trouble, but with some twisting it fit through. All he had now was his wits.

And Mono, if the other boy ever came back. RK wasn’t entirely sure about that, so it was up to him to save himself.

He fumbled at the handle, feeling the lock and hoping it was rusted and weak. It clanged, solid as ever. The hinges, then. The next weakest part. Nothing. He wiggled each bar, throwing his entire weight into it, just in case. None were loose.

He should have destroyed every single cage. If RK got out of here, that was exactly what he’d do. Bend the metal until it broke, smash the hinges, throw the locks into the sea. RK soothed himself with thoughts of destruction as he slumped back in the cage.

His stomach growled, reminding RK that he’d not actually eaten anything solid since -- since before what Six did. It was like two different lifetimes, separated by one strange, horrifying incident. He pressed his knees together, not wanting to think of that. He’d not had any water in just as long, which RK didn’t actually know how long that was. He’d been unconscious for part of it.

“Mono?” RK called.

Unsurprisingly, only silence answered. RK rested his head against the bars. Maybe he should try to sleep until the hunger passed. He knew that was the worst option, that he’d only grow hungrier and thirstier as time went on, but he didn’t want to experience it.

“Anybody?” he tried again, hoping selfishly that a Nome or two might be around, then immediately regretting it. None appeared, luckily. He didn’t want them risking themselves for him. They’d suffered enough.

RK closed his eyes.

He opened them an indeterminate amount of time later, mouth gummy, stomach empty. His headache was back.

He needed to stay awake. He couldn’t escape if he was unconscious. If only he had a little bit of water.

Asleep again. Awake. Again, until --

Something had.. Something had woken him up. RK rubbed at his eyes, but it did nothing to clear the fog. He swallowed thickly, squinting up into the darkness. Blurry black eyes in a pale moon of a face.

“Bag boy?” he asked weakly.

A cup was pressed to his lips, and he tried to grab it, but would have dropped it without the support of Mono’s hands. RK gulped, until the water was torn away, and he reached frantically for it.

“Not so fast,” Mono said, catching his wrist before he could accidentally spill it. “You'll choke. Small sips, okay?”

RK nodded, and forced himself to let Mono tilt the cup, pacing him.

Finally, the cup was empty. He felt a little less cottony, and his mouth wasn’t sticking to itself. RK draped his arms through the bars, breathing a bit easier. Not perfect, but not dying anymore, either.

More water noises, then the cup was set down in front of RK. He chugged it, this time, then handed it back, wiping his mouth.

“Thanks.”

Awkwardly, Mono patted his head. RK tried not to wince. “Sorry about just leaving you.”

“How long has it been?”

“...About two days.”

RK nodded. Two days (more than) without food, and still Six hadn’t eaten him. He sat back and contemplated his arms and legs, looking for new injuries. For burns left by icy shadow hands.

“Six?”

“She’s… she’s keeping herself entertained,” Mono said very carefully. RK wondered if they were just going to pretend Six’s attack hadn’t even happened. It seemed likely, since RK certainly wasn't going to bring it up and chase Mono off again.

RK was silent, muddling through his heavy head for how to approach the next subject. “She’s different, you said.”

“She is.”

“When… when I knew her, she didn’t have the, uh,” he trailed off, making claws out of his hands. “She didn’t have the same sort of appetite.” That he knew of. Had she been eating kids back then, too? They would follow her so easily, trusting another child. RK had.

“She can be a little scary,” Mono said, agreeing with something RK hadn’t even had to say.

That was an understatement. RK was beginning to see just how deep Six had her freaky shadow claws in Mono. He took a moment to compose himself, because if he worded stuff wrong and Mono left, RK was probably going to die. Slowly. Two cups of water and no food was not going to keep him alive for however long they forgot him next time. Mm, food. There were still some sweets hidden away in one of the drawers in the Janitor’s rooms. He’d been saving them for some ill-defined reason, but surviving this ordeal seemed justification enough to eat them. No, he needed to focus.

“You’re a nice person, Mono,” he said. Nice, not good. Good kids didn’t keep other kids caged. “You’re in a really difficult position, though, right?” Mono didn’t indicate his opinion either way. “I mean… You seem to like kids, but Six has to -- she has to eat. It’s not fair.”

“It’s not!” Mono said in earnest. “That’s why I’m really excited that she doesn’t want to eat you, actually.”

RK had been expecting him to expound more on how it wasn’t fair and justify it or explain or something, but he should really stop expecting things from Mono. At least not sane things.

“I am too?” he tried. That seemed safe.

“I can’t really have friends aside from Six, since she, you know. But she didn’t want to eat you even when you hit her! And you’re sorry about that!” Mono leaned in closer, wrapping his hands around the bars. RK leaned back just a little. Not enough to make it seem like he was pulling away, but Mono was far too close for him to be comfortable. “I think she likes you. What if you came with us?”

“What.”

“Yeah! You get how she is.”

Oh no. This was how RK was getting out of the cage, wasn’t it? Pretending to be friends with that monster. He could do that. Get out, then get  _ away _ . It had to be in that order. He just had to not panic or slip up. A tall order normally, but even more daunting with how his head pounded, drowning out coherent thought . “I do know how she is. And I’m starting to see how  _ you _ are, bag boy-- Mono.”

“You can call me bag boy,” Mono said, relief in every line of his body. “I’ve never had a nickname before. What’s your name?”

“I’ve never had a name before,” RK muttered dryly. “People just call me RK now.”

“Arkay,” Mono said, and RK wasn’t entirely sure, but it sounded like he was saying it somehow different than he had.

“R. K.”

“Okay, RK,” Mono repeated with a shy little laugh. “You’ll really come with us?”

Suddenly RK needed more water. His mouth was a desert, just thinking of staying with Six. All the time. As Mono turned a blind eye to the horrible things she’d do to him (and she would do the worst things to RK). As he’d have to do when Six hurt Mono, too. He wasn’t actually going with them. He just needed to  _ say _ he was. Breathe. Breathe.

His hand fumbled out for Mono, catching him by his coat’s collar. Mono looked terrified, for some reason. Was it really so scary, the thought that RK might say no?

“I..” Words. How did words work. Just fucking  _ lie _ . “I… yes?” he choked out.

The fear melted away, and RK found himself smashed against the bars, arms bent uncomfortably in front of him, metal pressing at his brow and cheekbones. “Mono?” he barely got out before a warm mouth was on his, and fingers were twisted in his hair. Any further words were muffled as Mono’s tongue pushed past his lips. Teeth clicked on his and split his lip. He couldn’t pull away. He couldn’t move his arms, squished between Mono and the bars, one of Mono’s arms around his waist and the other holding his head in place. RK whined.

Mono was going to suffocate him with his mouth. RK tried to breathe through his nose, but it was smashed against Mono’s face. He wasn’t getting nearly enough air. RK wasted air on an even louder sound of distress, hoping to get Mono to realize -- to  _ stop _ .

Something wet smeared across RK’s face as Mono changed angle, tickling his tongue uncomfortably and chasing it to the back of his mouth when he tried to get it away. Tears? RK certainly wasn’t crying, as much as he was dying inside.

Mono let him go, and RK flopped back, head knocking against the far wall. He immediately curled forward again, hands flying to the injury there, struggling to get air into his lungs when everything inside felt all gross and tangled up again.

Mono’s fingers carded through his hair with a frenetic energy, as though realizing he shouldn’t have done that. “I’ll… I can look at your head, if you want,” he said quietly in some weird oblique apology. RK glared up through his hair. Mono’s face was wet with tears, cheeks flushed. “Then I’ll go find Six. I’ll give you some space. I shouldn’t have--”

“No! It’s fine,” RK said quickly, cutting off whatever Mono was going to say. “You don’t need to leave. I…” Shit, what was he going to say to keep Mono from getting Six? “I liked it?”

Mono’s eyes narrowed. “You sure you did? I kind of thought…”

“It caught me off guard. I’ve never been kissed before.” That sounded good, right? Yeah. Believable. His tongue still tickled from where Mono had licked it, and he subtly scraped it across his teeth to get rid of the sensation. He was panicking. He needed to get off of this topic. “I think I have a concussion.”

The suspicion disappeared almost immediately. “Oh, right! Let me take a look at you. I hadn’t meant to hit you so hard.”

Mono unhooked a large key from his coat and slipped it into the lock. Yes. It clicked open, and he dropped the entire thing to the side.  _ Yes, yes, yes _ . This was what RK had wanted. This was all he needed.

RK got his legs and arms untangled from the bars, then immediately fell out when Mono opened it, limbs turning to liquid the instant he tried to actually stand. It didn’t keep him from trying again, though, making a few more shaky steps.

Mono swooped in to support him, lowering RK gently to the ground. RK’s head was buzzing and it felt like his brain was leaking out of his ears. That wasn’t good. His plan had been get out, get away. He’d gotten out, but getting away was proving to be far more challenging.

Mono wrapped his arms around RK, keeping him from going completely prone. Keeping him from going anywhere at all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have solved the problem of RK having more wardrobe changes than Zuko. also updated the tags for the like, next two or so chaps.

Six returned to find Mono gently dabbing at the back of RK’s head as he slumped forward in (temporary!) defeat. Mono had given RK his coat, and a bucket for him to dip his cup into and drink while he was fussed over. Right now, the bucket was RK’s best friend. He just had to be careful not to puke into it.

He glared at Six’s dirty feet as they came into view.

“What?” she asked Mono.

“He’s not feeling well.” Mono mumbled, either intent on the task or scared of Six. RK could believe both.

“I’m hungry.”

RK bit his tongue on every remark he wanted to say. _Good_ . _Eat bag boy_ . _Die. Die. Die._

Mono’s arms came around RK, hugging him close. “We’ll find something,” he promised Six.

RK risked a glance up, to see Six huff and roll her eyes. She stalked off again, and he slumped against Mono. As much as RK had a deep, abiding aversion to being chained down, tying himself to the weirdo really did seem the safest option. He placed a hand tentatively on Mono’s arm, and got a squeeze in return.

Eventually, RK wanted to move and felt capable of doing so. He had to fight to not brush off Mono’s mother henning, as much as being touched made his skin crawl. Mono seemed very sensitive, and RK didn’t want him turning on him or leaving. Especially with Six getting hungrier and hungrier.

They returned to the kitchen, where Mono began raiding the supplies for child-free foods. RK paid only the barest of attention to make sure he didn’t grab something contaminated, but was otherwise left to his own thoughts.

Mono set a small (well, large for them, but there weren’t many options) plate at RK’s feet, then knelt very stiffly on the other side. Weird, but RK was more interested in the food. He tried to eat slowly, and shoved anything he thought would last into the pockets of Mono’s coat. His coat. He hoped Mono realized this was RK’s coat now.

Should they talk? RK was tired of talking, but Mono was just sitting there, as though expecting something. He needed to ask Mono about Six, about his plans. He needed information. He didn't even know where to begin, though, so gave up before starting.

“Thanks,” RK settled on.

“You’re welcome,” Mono said almost immediately.

Silence.

RK shoved the last bit of stale bread into his pocket, and climbed unsteadily to his feet. Mono was there in an instant, offering support.

RK stared at him, and he stared right back, a faint smile on his face. Mono was insane. Okay. Six was beyond that. She was even more dangerous than before. She was here, now, doing god knew what, but wouldn’t stay forever, especially without anyone but RK to eat. RK hated the thoughts crowding in. Hadn’t he done enough for kids? Why did it always fall to _him_ to save people? Why did he get hurt over and over and over and others benefited?

Mono had said they had a dinghy. That was how they got here, and that was how they would leave. RK forced a smile to his lips. He could figure out the rest, later. “Do you wanna see my garden?"

Mono lit up like RK had asked to marry him, and linked their fingers. Right. He could do this. He squeezed Mono’s hand to quell the shaking, and tugged him along.

Up, he went, past the great skeletons of Guests and desiccated meats still on display like a museum to the nightmare that was this world. Up to the stairs where RK’s newest nightmare had begun only a few terrible days ago. Then, into sunlight. Into fresh ocean air.

RK bent over, hands on his knees, winded and woozy. He still needed time to recover, but didn’t have any. Their dinghy was there, pulled onto shore, its poorly furled sail flapping gently in the breeze. He gestured to the stairs curling around the rocks.

“It’s up there,” he said. “I’ll be there in a few moments. Just need to catch my breath.”

Mono swayed from foot to foot, clearly deliberating if he should stay or go. RK waved him away, until he left with an affectionate pat to RK’s head.

What he was about to do terrified him beyond all reason, but it had to be done. Anything to slow Six down or trap her. More than anything, RK wanted to take his chance on the boat, but he’d stay for any children that might come to the Maw, assuming Six didn’t kill him for this.

He fought through the weakness in his limbs and lungs to climb aboard and fuck around cluelessly with the ropes until the sail opened entirely, then RK braced himself against the bow of the dinghy and _pushed_. It slid across the sand with grinding slowness. C’mon, before Mono came back or Six just magically rose from the depths of hell. He pushed.

Suddenly, the boat was gliding faster, and slipped right into the water as RK tripped. The wind caught the sail.. It swung, and the boat bobbed, and slowly, slowly it began to drift away along with RK’s hope of survival.

He steadied himself mentally and physically before climbing up even more steps to join Mono at his little garden. Gardening know-how was sorely lacking in his education aboard the Maw, but he knew the principle from picture books about farms. Stuff goes in the ground. Food grows out. RK had been having surprising success with pieces of veggies and herbs from the kitchen, and his efforts were on display in little puffy-leafed rows labeled Karot, Potato, Letus, and others.

Mono was crouching in front of a cluster of carrots, running his hands through the long, soft green leaves, enthralled. He looked almost innocent in the sunlight, even with his dead eyes. It made RK sad, seeing what Mono could have been without Six. Just another kid who was amazed at carrots and wanted a friend. Normally, RK would have been happy to be his friend. There were very few people RK _couldn't_ be friends with. But with Six...

“We don’t have many plants in the city,” Mono said when RK just stood there staring, gaze occasionally flickering out over the water to check the progress of the dinghy and praying that Mono didn’t notice.

“That’s nice,” RK said, then realized that made no sense. “I mean, uh… I’m not really sure what I’m doing, but it’s working, so….” he trailed off, both out of practice with conversation and running quickly out of any desire to actually talk to Mono. But if he was going to keep using him as a shield, RK needed to play nice. He scrambled mentally for a topic.

“How did you and Six meet?” he asked, finally. Not his first choice, but he needed to know exactly what he’d sentenced himself to.

Mono moved on to petting the frilly lettuce. “I rescued her from a hunter, and we’ve traveled together ever since, helping kids.”

“Helping kids,” RK said disbelievingly, before he could stop himself.

“Yeah. There are so many horrible adults out there… You had those, here, right? The skeletons?”

That was an easy one, and RK could continue to mentally puzzle out how Mono was _helping_ anyone. “We were raised for food.”

Mono hummed. “That explains a lot about Six. The food becomes the eater, huh?” he said with a laugh.

“Six wasn’t… I don’t know where Six came from. I don’t know what Six _is_. She wasn’t one of us kids.”

“She’s just a kid, too, you know.”

RK sighed and flopped down, beginning to suspect even Mono didn’t know anything about Six’s strange appetites and abilities. He wasn’t even going to try to have this argument. So Six is a kid, now. Just like all the other kids. Who has freaky -- freaky whatever had grabbed him. His hand came down to rub at the skin behind his manacle, thinking unwillingly of those things holding him in their icy grip. He’d felt so powerless underneath Six, so terrified.

He forced down the nausea that roiled. Six wasn’t here right now (but she’d find out what he’d done, she’d hold him down again. She’d hurt him more, until he died). RK was safe with Mono, for now. Before he realized the boat was gone.

“Yeah, I know,” he said, sprawling on the warm rocks and soil, enjoying the sun because he was sure he’d not see it ever again.

Mono leaned over him, blocking the sunlight. He fiddled with his shirt sleeves. “Can I kiss you again?” he asked.

RK squinted. He wanted to say no. Hell no. Absolutely not. But Mono was going to find out about the boat any minute now. RK didn't want to reenter hell any sooner than he had to. “Okay.”

Mono bent lower, pressing his lips to RK’s, who now that he actually had a chance to think about it and prepare, realized he had no idea what he was doing. Was he… was he supposed to push back, or open his mouth or not scrunch his face up like this was the worst thing in the world?

RK needed to definitely stop doing that last thing. Relax. Don’t purse his lips. Limp and pliant. Let Mono do whatever he wanted.

A hand came up to cup his cheek and RK’s fingers curled into the soil in fright. Mono nudged his mouth open with his lips. He seemed to have some idea of what kissing was, for someone who didn’t have friends besides Six -- oh no, Mono had definitely kissed Six before. Gross. His tongue slipped into RK’s slack mouth. _Gross_. RK could survive this. It was nothing compared to what Six had done. This was fine.

After several more moments of licking inside RK’s mouth while he struggled to breathe through his nose, Mono leaned a little back, and RK let some relief slip in. There, he’d done it. It was over.

Mono began to kiss along his jaw.

RK’s teeth snapped shut and his eyes shot open. He hadn’t agreed to this. But he couldn’t tell Mono to stop. He needed him to like him, to protect him. Was it worth it for just a few minutes more without pain, though?

RK stared up at the blistering blue sky as Mono’s dry lips traced from his jaw down his throat. His hand moved from RK’s cheek to slip under the edge of his coat and squeeze at his mostly bare shoulder. RK should have buttoned it up. Should have put just one more layer of difficulty between himself and others _touching_ him.

At least Mono would stop at kissing? Even if this was more than RK had signed up for, it was still _just_ kissing. Along his collarbone, as the cool breeze ghosted over a now exposed shoulder. Then the other. RK surreptitiously tensed as much of himself as he could, elbows to his sides, knees pressed together.

Mono returned to his mouth, tongue licking at RK’s now tightly closed teeth. He was pressing himself against RK, weight heavy and smothering, and uncomfortably _hard_ between his legs.

Let him do it. Let him in. RK was screaming in his own head to just open his mouth, but his teeth clenched so hard, he was afraid he was going to chip one.

Mono moaned into his mouth as though this reticence was completely normal, rubbing against RK’s bare thigh. RK breathed heavily through his nose.

Mono’s hands slipped under his top, and he reflexively jerked as fingers ghosted across his belly, earning an appreciative groan. Don’t think of Six. Of shadow fingers and brutal teeth. Mono’s leg slipped between RK’s, rubbing at his groin. Don’t think of a terrifying mouth down there, moist and gross, dragging out a response just like this. He tried to angle his hips away from Mono’s leg, but the taller boy chased him. RK squeaked, and Mono’s tongue found its way back into his mouth, this time with a more frantic energy as his hands dragged across RK’s chest.

RK couldn’t stop it. He was back in the Lady’s rooms, back with Six on him. He needed Mono _off_. He shoved and kicked, feet digging furrows in the dirt, but was shamefully weak from days of starvation and injury. One of Mono’s hands left RK’s chest for a blessed second, only to unbutton his pants and pull out his length. A new level of heat and trickle of slime dragged across RK’s thigh.

After agonizing moments of exploration that made RK twitch, Mono’s hands found RK’s hips, and he rolled over, until RK was straddling him on legs wobbly as cooked noodles. RK wanted to say he used this chance to climb off of Mono and leave. It would have been so easy that he should have. He didn’t, though. He just covered his burning, spit-slimed face with his hands so he didn’t have to look down on Mono’s face of ecstasy as he bucked up against RK.

At least he wasn’t grinding on RK in just the wrong way to send disgusting waves of pleasure up his spine. He was just rubbing roughly at the thin fabric of his bloomers, right between RK’s legs, in a way that made him wish he could just draw everything down there up into his body, never to see the light of day again.

Though he thankfully couldn’t see, he could still hear every gasp and groan from Mono as he jerked bruisingly hard on RK’s hips. Soon his moans began to stutter, and his hips thrust harder and more erratically. It was almost over. Just hold out a little longer.

“Ah,” Mono cried out, almost as though he was trying to form words. “Ah, ah, Six -- Six --”

 _Don’t puke on Mono_. Of all the things to say as wetness splashed warm and thick on RK’s thighs. If RK wasn’t already withering inside, that would have sealed the deal. He swallowed down the disgust as Mono rutted a few more times, then went limp.

Was he… was he allowed to get off? RK didn’t care, anymore. He climbed to shaky legs, every movement dragging now cooling slime along his skin.

Mono sat up, face flushed and eyes hazy. “Sorry,” he mumbled, clumsily tucking himself back in. “About the name, uh --”

“It’s okay,” RK whispered, standing awkwardly to keep friction away from his over-sensitive groin. “I, uh…” He had no clue what to do, now. He knew what he _wanted_ to do, very, very badly, but as much as he’d like to run away right into the ocean and scrub until he bled, he needed to stay by Mono. “I need to change my clothes.”

“Oh, I’ll come with you.” Mono got to his feet gingerly, still feeling the after effects of their encounter.

“Okay --” Oh shit, that would take them right by the boat. Or where it currently wasn’t. RK scanned the horizon for the white of the sail. It was empty. Good. That was good, yes. No point regretting his decision now, when it couldn't be undoe.

They’d find out eventually. RK just wished he had a moment longer in the sun, untainted by the monsters creeping in and on top of the Maw. He let Mono take his hand and lead him down to the beach, feeling exactly like when the Janitor had dragged his cage into the wrapping room.

“Where’s the boat?” Mono asked. RK steadfastly stared at his feet. “RK?” A shrug. “Ah, well. I saw some TVs inside.”

That… was not the response RK had been expecting. Cautiously, he raised his eyes. Mono smiled at him, entirely unbothered by the lack of a way off the Maw. That concerned RK a lot. There was no way Mono was _that_ delusional to think this was an acceptable turn of events. He was missing something, but he was almost too afraid to ask.

Mono gently swung their clasped hands. “You were gonna go change?” he prompted.

RK licked his lips, imagining he could still taste Mono on them. “Y-yeah. Right."

He crept back inside, skin crawling, expecting a knife in his back or teeth on his shoulders for his sabotage. His fear had at least one good outcome, as it distracted him from the ache between his legs until it flagged and vanished. Mono followed placidly along.

Nothing happened as he walked through the dining rooms, as he entered the Lady’s quarters, as he navigated the busted puzzles to the bathroom. Mono hopped up into the vanity’s chair, as if intently watching another boy bathe was perfectly normal. The only times RK had ever bathed with someone else was when the children were being hosed down in icy showers, a mixture of boys and girls and others all jammed into one shower room. Nobody had been paying much attention to anybody else, then.

RK was just going to ignore him, he decided. Pretend Mono wasn’t even there. He climbed up his stool, then over the edge to stopper the drain of the claw-footed tub. He used a second stool he’d pulled into the tub ages ago to climb back out and turn on the faucet. The Nomes kept the Maw in working order even without its customers, but hot water still marveled RK even after years. He watched intently as steam curled up from it and the tub filled. Once he was sure everything looked good, he took one last glance at Mono, on the off chance he’d gotten bored and left.

Still there. RK sighed and took off the coat. Next was the crusting and crunchy bloomers, tossed aside to be burned at his earliest convenience. RK hesitated on the thin straps of his shift. It was the last thing standing between him and Mono’s stare.

“You’re very pretty,” Mono offered, as though that would help RK get undressed.

“Uh.” What did you say to that? Thanks? Are you saying that because I look like Six? Fuck you, you creepy bastard? “Thanks,” RK said, looking very intently at the swirling water as he shucked the shift and climbed into the tub to hide himself.

The hot water prickled at his skin, and he swam over to the faucet to turn it off now that it was almost completely full and pulled the rough square of cloth from where it was draped across the pipe.

And with that, RK sank down as much as he could, back to Mono, pressed against the smooth porcelain of the tub. Just pretend he’s not there. That he can’t still see the top of RK’s head and probably think about gross stuff like kissing and rubbing.

RK dragged the washcloth down his body, tracing the ghostly path of Mono’s hands, of Six’s body undulating on his belly, of her head down… down there. Of Mono pressing and jerking against him. He scrubbed harder between his legs, trying pointlessly to rub away the feelings that contact had wrung out of him. The warmth of the water only served to remind him of Six’s mouth and Mono’s length. RK wished desperately for people to stop touching him. 

He dipped his head underneath the surface and screamed until his lungs were empty and all that was left was the alien, echoing quiet of the water pressing against his ears. When his lungs burned and he needed to face the world, RK lifted his head.

Something immediately shoved him back down. He couldn’t breathe. He’d screamed out all his air already, so when he opened his mouth to cry, all he got was water. His hands scrabbled at the familiar, rubbery feel of water-resistant fabric. _Six_.

He’d feared drowning before, when traversing the depths of the Maw, where the long-fingered Granny hunted, ready to drag children to her watery lair. Dreamt of it and woke in an icy sweat. But RK had never actually _drowned_ . His vision sparkled with darkness and light. He swallowed frantically, instinctually, mouth squeezed tightly shut against the water threatening to flood his lungs. Soon, he wouldn’t be able to stop it. His body would betray him as his muscles screamed for oxygen, as unconsciousness crept in. He needed to _breathe_.

Her hand came away thanks to nothing RK did, yanking out some of his wet hair with the movement. He surfaced with a dramatic gasp and draped himself over the far side of the tub, disoriented, feet slipping along the bottom of the tub, hands unable to get a hold to drag himself entirely out. The stool -- it was toward the back.

Six splashed entirely into the tub, and floundered menacingly through the deep water until she caught RK by his hair. The water around them turned icy, and every shift of current or eddy became those horrid shadows. His manacle clanged against porcelain as he kicked wildly and hit the side, a pain blooming that he couldn’t feel now but would feel intensely later.

“Six, please!” Mono said, standing outside of the tub, hands on the edge. “He didn’t mean it!”

“He did,” she growled as RK scratched uselessly at her hand in his hair and struggled to breathe against the sudden shock of cold clenching around his lungs.

“I didn--”

She shoved him under again. They both knew he was lying. RK swallowed water, spasming and coughing and only drowning himself more thoroughly. Six pulled him out, and almost all of his weight was on the locks of hair trapped in her grip, strands snapping from his scalp as he spit up water.

“--TVs here!” Mono was saying, once RK could focus past the blood rushing in his ears and the rasp of his own, wet breathing. He clawed weakly at Six, who just ignored him. “Please don’t kill him.”

Six’s silence weighed heavy and ominous, and the water was growing ever colder. But then she threw him at the stool. The water dragged RK down, but he managed to catch it with one hand, and heft himself up. Mono was immediately there to help him out. RK didn’t want him touching him, but he wanted to be in the tub with Six even less.

Mono helped him sink to the ground, shivering and soaked and not nearly as clean as he wanted. RK coughed up more water, or at least it felt like his lungs were still full of liquid, as Mono left. Weakly, he reached for the shift in front of him, and pulled it on. Six stood in the water, arms crossed, glaring. Most of her was invisible beyond the side of the tub, but RK knew that wouldn't stop her if she wanted to hurt him again. When she wanted to.

He needed more layers. Anything -- the coat, next. It was large, thick, and bulky. Perfect. RK draped it over his thin shoulders and curled up pathetically inside.

Mono knelt next to him, and RK tried to remember when he got there. Just now, right? He wished he could think of anything but Six. Touching him. Hurting him. Drowning him.

“I found something clean and dry,” Mono said quietly, holding up a dress RK had pointedly never touched, with fluffy layers and bows and lace. It was yellow.

RK stared uncomprehendingly at it, seeing only its color. Mono shook it invitingly, and he realized he was supposed to take it.

He took it in shaky hands, then climbed to his feet with help from Mono. 

A splash of water across the floor, and Six was there, shoving herself between the two of them. She snatched the dress from RK’s loose grip, and threw it on the floor.

“No!” she said sharply, then her hands were on the collar of his shift, and with one strong tug, the straps snapped. She yanked it down and knocked RK off of his feet to throw it away, too. “You don’t get anything!”

“Six!” Mono snapped, until she turned her glare onto him, and he immediately wilted. “Sorry. Just -- sorry.”

RK had fallen hard on his butt, sending a teeth-rattling jolt up his spine. He curled his fingers defensively into the edges of the coat, pulling it tighter, waiting for Six to destroy it, too.

She looked like she wanted to, but managed to refrain. RK doubted she did it for his sake and not the fact that it was Mono's. Instead, she held up one finger and jabbed it at RK. “One chance. Got it?”

RK nodded frantically, that old familiar self-loathing making his gorge rise. It was easy to be brave when she wasn’t right in front of him. When it was just her lovesick pet idiot (who, RK suspected, was the only reason he was alive right now). But when she was standing over him, fists on her hips as though daring him to immediately fuck up, it was easiest to say whatever she wanted.

She left with one final glare at Mono, dripping water. RK fell back onto the now wet floor, waiting for his heart to stop trying to escape his ribs. Mono knelt down next to him.

_Don’t ask to kiss me._

He reached for the coat, and RK cringed away. That was worse. This was all he had, now.

Mono slipped the top button through its hole, then the next, very pointedly not looking at RK as he tensed in fear.

Soon all the buttons were done, and the coat was closed around him. That hadn’t been what he expected. Actual decency, instead of the facsimile of it, from Mono?

RK hated how he was suddenly willing to forgive so much at this. This basic kindness that shouldn’t be conditional. But Six was out there, and Mono had kept her from killing him. She wasn’t nearly so bad in front of the other boy, as though she cared about his opinion despite what she did to him. No wonder he was so confused.

It was frankly surprising that she’d left him with RK again, after so many transgressions. Like she was busy doing something else, but what was there to do on the Maw that would entertain a monster like Six? Besides RK, apparently.

“Where did Six go?” RK asked, voice embarrassingly weak and wispy as he got his damp arms through the sleeves.

Mono shrugged very quickly. “She keeps herself entertained,” he said, also suspiciously quickly.

RK took one look at the guilty expression on Mono’s face and stumbled to the door, a new fear blooming. The Nomes. The shadow kids. There were plenty of innocent creatures besides him to torment. How could he have been so stupid and selfish? Six came here hungry, but hadn’t eaten in _days_ , he’d thought. He hadn't even considered how casual she was about her hunger. No desperation. Because she'd not been starving.

Stupid. _Stupid._

Mono almost intercepted RK from running out into the Lady’s bedroom, but just missed him as he darted past. The room RK had claimed for himself, and that Six had violated the sanctity of. The duvet was still on the floor, the chaos from their first encounter splashed in dried, old blood.

The pile of Nome bodies now on the bed where she… she’d done those things was new. It was far, far too large. Had she been -- was this what she was doing all along? Hunting, then dragging them back here like some predator returning to her den?

RK could only stare, tears stinging at his eyes. It had been so long since he’s cried, and so long since he had anything to cry over. Until Six.

Mono touched his shoulder.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come join us at https://discord.gg/XVJXUFj49f if u want to talk LN and LN2. also p sure this will be the darkest chapter, at least so far as violence and sexual stuff goes.

The frustration and fear and pain overflowed, like a dam bursting, and the tears broke free. RK whirled on Mono, hitting his hand away.

“How -- I -- You knew!” he sputtered, not even sure what he wanted to scream about first. “You -- You -- Six -- Six was _killing them_! And you knew! And you just let her!”

Mono held up his hands placatingly, offering weak justifications that RK barely heard, drowning under the roaring in his ears. “She needs to eat…”

“THEN EAT ADULTS!” RK yelled, shoving Mono back. He needed space.

“But she needs --”

“Shut up!”

Mono shut up.

RK’s hands were curled into white-knuckled fists, and he trembled all over. “Just _shut up_ ,” he hissed. “Six is a monster! I saw her rip the throat out of the Lady, and murder fifty Guests! Those were all adults! You can’t tell me she _needs_ to eat Nomes or -- or kids! She eats kids for _fun_ \--”

“No!” Mono yelled right back, actual anger now in his eyes. “She’s not a monster!”

“And _you_ ,” RK continued, on a roll, as he skirted the pile of dead Nomes for the door, keeping his eyes warily on Mono. “You’re just as bad! Maybe worse! You don’t help people! You -- you lie, and you -- you touch kids in gross and weird ways, and you feed them to Six --”

“I don’t!” Mono said, following RK. It was less a disagreement and more a plea that RK believe him. That he didn't, despite the proof laying in stale blood on the bed.

RK began to back away faster, realizing under all his anger that this had been a monumentally terrible idea. Yes, scream at the kid who _fed children to Six_. He couldn't think straight. Frantically, he rubbed at his wet eyes, then fumbled for the door’s handle somewhere above his head. “Leave me alone!”

The door clicked open just a sliver. RK wedged his fingers in the thin gap to pull it further. Mono threw himself at the door, and it slammed shut.

RK screamed, pain shooting up his arm as he dropped to his knees, trying to pull his fingers back but only creating new waves of agony. Mono turned the handle and pulled, and the door eased open enough for RK to get his fingers free.

He curled protectively over them, a mess of bloody skin and rapid swelling, and cried, all the anger flagging as resignation and fresh pain set in. Six had killed the Nomes. She probably found some way to hurt the shadow kids, and Mono would have no interest in protecting RK now, so he was sure his days were numbered, too. He knew it would happen eventually, the instant she came back, but stupidly, he thought that maybe.... maybe he'd survive. If he was just clever enough or determined enough, and willing to do anything. _Idiot_.

Mono knelt down. “I didn’t mean to --”

RK jerked away, turning his body so his back was mostly facing Mono, shoulders shaking as tears fell and stung his ruined fingers. He didn’t want to talk anymore. There wasn’t any point to it.

A sigh. “Six does what she needs to, to survive,” Mono began. When RK gave no indication he was listening, he plowed on. “I don’t know what life was like on here, but you seem pretty cozy, now. Maybe you don’t _get_ what it’s like to be hunted and --”

“Fuck off,” RK mumbled into his knees, his manacle a heavy, cold weight around his ankle. He’d known too many kids who didn’t have the chance to be hunted, because they were trapped from the start. And then they disappeared, meat and soul ripped apart to feed adults who didn’t need them. Mono hadn’t seen the children in forgotten cages and rooms, their bodies desiccated or bloated with rot, the ones who suffered broken limbs and electrocution and petrification and leech bites. The ones who survived only long enough to have their doors opened, then died of infection or sickness.

RK had saved so many, but even more had been lost. He wished he could just stop caring like Mono had, and accept that sometimes children died or needed to, so that a more important one could live. Maybe then it’d stop hurting to lose friend after friend.

Mono grabbed his shoulders, forcing him awkwardly around to look at him. When RK turned his head, he wrenched his face back, fingers digging into his jaw. “No! You listen! Six is a _good person_ . She’s the only reason I’m alive, and she didn’t have to protect me!” RK whined, cringing back from Mono as much as his rough fingers allowed. Mono’s other hand caught his shoulder, forcing him to stay exactly where he was. “ _You_ keep saying she’s horrible, but you’re the one who hit her! You tried to kill her, you tried to maroon her here -- and she’s nice enough to keep giving you chances!”

RK sniffled as Mono shook him, hating the tears still streaming down his face, the angry hot throb of pain from his right hand and the nails digging into the skin of his jaw. He was injured and sad and _scared._ Mono was _hurting_ him.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. He was, if only that he hadn’t succeeded in either attempt (though RK still wasn’t sure how he’d failed the marooning), but he’d done enough terrible things in the name of survival, half-truths weren’t nearly his greatest sin.

Mono’s dead eyes roved over RK’s face, as though trying to suss out any deception. There was only blotchy, scrunched skin and wet, red eyes. He let RK go, and RK immediately curled protectively over his fingers again. The heat was shot through with an unnerving cold, aching all the way up his arm like Six had a shadowy tendril wrapped around it.

When Mono knelt again, this time trying to be as small as possible, RK just let him maneuver his hand free. Whatever Mono wanted to do, RK didn’t want him grabbing at him like that again. He wanted at least the illusion that he could escape, that Mono wasn’t exactly like Six. His mangled fingers showed the lie in that, but RK was tired. He slumped against Mono as the other boy pulled his arm into better light, tears still coming but silent and without any force.

“I didn’t mean to do that,” Mono said quietly, fingertips cool against the heat of RK’s hand. “I just didn’t want you to hurt Six --”

A rough, short-lived laugh escaped RK. Yes, he was the threat here.

“Or her to hurt you,” Mono finished very pointedly.

“Oh,” RK mumbled, feeling bad about laughing for some stupid reason. Thinking was hard. He was cold and damp and the fire that laced up his arm did nothing to stop that. He’d like to stop feeling things right about now. Stop seeing the dead Nomes, the hands and mouths and other body parts on him. Six had hurt him so much. She’d dragged this kid into it, made him her accomplice, another monster feeding on children. And eventually, Six would get bored of RK. He could see the trajectory of his short life very clearly, right up to the horrible, abrupt ending. Things had been _good_ before she arrived.

Getting barely any response, Mono readjusted RK’s compliant body, and tried to pull him to his feet.

He was going to die. This fact settled in, like a heavy weight in his stomach.

When RK refused to even stand on his own, Mono got an arm under his knees, and another around his back, under his arms. After some careful positioning, he got precariously to his feet. Another moment of balancing, then he was taking RK back into the bathroom.

How would Six kill him? Would she make it quick for Mono’s sake, or just find some dark corner of the Maw to eat him slowly, out of Mono’s sight? Was he even right to think Six actually cared about what Mono saw, or what he thought? RK could just be hoping she wasn't as much of a monster as she really was.

Mono found RK’s washcloth and dipped it into the now cold bathwater, then returned to gently wipe at the blood and bruising, washing clean what he could. RK didn’t look at his mangled hand. He could feel every brush of fiber, every drip of water touching nerves. Mono was saying stuff as he worked, likely trying to distract RK, but he didn’t need distraction. He felt what Mono was doing but… it wasn’t that bad. This was fine.

Mono puttered around, doing whatever, coming back and leaving again for more supplies, until he’d splinted RK’s fingers with the Lady’s hair pins and ribbons.

“...hope I’m doing this right,” he muttered, and it took RK a second to realize he actually heard the words.

“It’s fine,” RK said. Which wasn’t the right thing to say, he was pretty sure, but he didn’t know what else to say. The pain was coming back then ebbing, like waves from the ocean, each one more intense than the one before, yet somehow never peaking.

Mono’s head snapped up, confused. RK stared at him, thoughts like molasses, until he returned his attention to gently wrapping RK’s entire hand in a length of some torn fabric. RK studied his movements, seeing the faint scars from old injuries stark and white against the discolored skin. Mono had small scars, too. From Six? Or just from the hard life of every child?

His hand throbbed.

“Six’ll kill me, won’t she?”

“What?” Mono said, voice pitched up. “No -- I mean, if you don’t give her a reason to, she won’t.”

RK shook his head, rubbing at his stupid, stinging eyes with the one functional hand he had left. “I don’t want to die.”

Mono pulled RK’s hand away from his eyes, and wiped at them far more tenderly, stealing away the few tears RK could spare anymore.

“Sh, sh, sh,” he susurrated, cupping RK’s cheeks far more gently than he’d grabbed him before, but which still sent a paroxysm of terror through RK. “You don’t have to die, okay? Just be good, and you’ll be fine.”

RK nodded faintly. He was definitely going to die.

Mono returned to the tub and washed the blood out of the cloth, then came back and dabbed softly at RK’s face. Soon, the cloth was replaced with equally soft kisses, as Mono whispered that he just had to be good. He just had to do what Six said. He just had to be okay with the rampant murder and abuse of innocents.

RK might have imagined that last one, but was sure it was somewhere between the lines.

Mono helped him to his feet, and this time he managed to stay upright, with Mono supporting most of his weight. RK wasn’t sure what to do with his broken hand, since every orientation seemed to inspire new bouts of pain, so wound up with it held defensively somewhere around his sternum. 

Together, they lurched to the other room, until RK remembered what was in there. But that was the only way out. He dug his heels in as Mono tugged him along.

“I -- don’t make me -- please,” he squeaked. Lying, apologizing, begging -- familiar tactics to stay the pain, but unlike with Six, these actually seemed to work on Mono. Sometimes. He stopped, then propped RK on the doorframe and disappeared. RK contemplated the fancy wallpaper’s warped and water stained edges, then his hand, practically mummified, Mono had wrapped it so much.

He’d failed his Nomes, literally his only friends on the Maw. If he’d just hit Six harder, or with something sharper, or, or --

Mono came back, saving RK from that line of thinking, at least temporarily. It felt like he’d only just left, but also like he’d been puttering around doing whatever for ages. Time didn’t used to be so funky.

“You might want to close your eyes,” he said, taking RK’s good hand to pull him along into the bedroom. RK caught a glimpse of a suspiciously lumpy sheet in the corner, before he did as instructed, and let Mono lead him blind through the room. That was frightening in its own right, each tentative step possibly leading into a cage or some furniture or anything else Six would find it hilarious to make RK walk right into.

But this was Mono, who kept Six from eating him (who’d broken his fingers, and hit him in the head, and forgot to feed him for days). But he’d tended to him after all that. He fed him, and wrapped his wounds (and did gross, slimy things to RK). He didn’t walk RK into something terrible, and, after far longer than it should have taken to traverse the room but RK wasn’t going to say anything, Mono gave the go-ahead for him to open his eyes.

They weren’t in the hall just outside the room, but rather one of the Lady’s sitting rooms. Lamps had been gathered around a corner of it, along with seat cushions and throw pillows, creating a cozy little nest. RK squinted warily, but Mono was nudging him closer, and so he sank down into the pile, pulling a blanket up protectively around himself. He hated that he could feel the roughness of Mono’s coat all over, with nothing between. He hated a lot of things, right about now.

Mono settled in opposite RK, next to some books that he’d clearly pulled out and arranged.

“I figured you liked to read,” Mono said without any prompting. “I saw some books in your room.”

RK nodded faintly. It was weird, how Mono could be so observant but also so fucking stupid. He didn’t want a… whatever this was. He wanted his hand to not be broken and his friends to not be dead. “The Nomes were helping me learn,” he said very pointedly. Because guess who wasn’t around to do that anymore thanks to Six?

Mono had the decency to look chagrined, before he recovered, probably shoving down that guilt into whatever dark pit every other negative emotion relating to Six went to. “I can help you! I love reading.”

RK turned to the books instead of responding. Mono took that as invitation to scoot closer. When RK pulled a book into his lap, doing everything clumsily and slowly because _someone_ broke his hand, Mono got close enough to touch knees and shoulders as he checked out the title. The cover said _The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty_.

“Sleeping Beauty?” Mono said. RK nodded. He had read fairy tales before, so recognized the words. That seemed like a safe bet. He didn’t want to die, and Mono was the only one currently standing between RK and that. RK didn't know how long he could keep vacillating between pretending to like Mono and terror, before Mono figured out he wasn't being honest, but he couldn't imagine how reading could go too horribly awry.

Mono helped him open the large, heavy tome, and RK immediately realized the book was far past his ability. The words were big, the text small. This didn't deter Mono, who apparently could actually read really well.

“The prince had all his young life known the story of Sleeping Beauty,” Mono read, starting off slowly but falling into a normal cadence once he realized RK wasn’t going to even try to read along with him.

RK zoned out as Mono read, the words blurring as Mono’s finger traced along the lines. He needed to plan. Not stopping Six, not yet at least. He just needed… he needed to figure out _something_. To keep Six away from him without Mono’s constant presence. To survive, and maybe escape. The Maw wasn’t safe, but RK had seen to it that there was no way off, so that was something else to just worry about later.

Mono stumbled over a word, and shifted against RK. He turned his attention back to the present. He had no clue what was going on in the book, but Mono’s words were getting softer as he mumbled, “the shape of her sex beneath it.”

“What?” RK asked. Mono was talking so quietly, it was really hard to make out any words, and he kept nudging RK and wiggling, making it hard to get lost in his own thoughts. Maybe that was for the best. His hand had settled into a smooth, consistent ache, and without that to distract him, his mind was going to dark places. That he wouldn't survive, that it might be best to decide when and how he died, instead of letting Six...

“Uh…” Mono’s entire face was aflame as he pulled it out of RK’s lap, silently skimming the page. “I think this is a different book than we thought it was.”

RK scowled. He knew he seemed younger than he actually was, after years of starvation and imprisonment. Plenty of healthier kids had made that same mistake. He didn't want to stop reading, because something worse would come in and fill that vacuum. “I’ve read Sleeping Beauty before. I know about the kissing.”

“He’s doing a little more than kissing,” Mono squeaked, closing the book and crawling away with it. “We should read something else -- oh, hi, Six.”

RK’s back went ramrod straight. Mono said it so easily, only a little startled, like she was just some friend who’d crept up on cat’s paws to peek over the edge of a chair at them, and not _Six_.

Six invited herself into their warm little alcove, and RK felt much colder as she took Mono’s spot beside him. “I like when you read,” she told Mono, whose entire demeanor instantly changed. He practically glowed. RK didn’t think she was lying just to mess with him. He'd never known Six to be dishonest about what she did and didn't like. That was at least something positive about her. And she _did_ seem to like Mono, weirdly enough.

“I can find a better book --”

“I wanna hear about this one. Who’s sleeping beauty?”

RK leaned a little away from Six as Mono’s happy expression fluctuated between the joy of doing something with Six and inexplicable mortification. Something moved on the edge of RK’s vision, and he risked turning around just a little while Six was distracted embarrassing Mono.

The masked face of a shadow kid stared back at him. No, not one. Four -- five? They stood just on the edge of the lamp light, like sharks in dark ocean waters. Awkward sharks, who didn’t know why they were there. RK had no clue, either.

Six leaned against him, dragging him back to acknowledge her existence. She grinned when RK looked at her, brows furrowed, but said nothing. Then she jerked her head toward Mono, who had set himself up with his back against a bookshelf, the large book opened on his lap. So… RK was supposed to ignore the shadow kids wandering behind him, then?

Six’s fingers wrapped around his right wrist, and that worked _really_ well for distracting RK from the shadow kids. He tried to pull his hand back, but Six just tightened her grip, and began to pick curiously at the bandages. Mono’s gaze was intent on the book, starting back from the beginning for Six’s sake, as she paid exactly zero attention.

RK couldn’t be bothered to listen, either, as his eyes were locked on what Six was doing, layer by layer revealing the damage. She didn’t ask what had happened.

RK tore his gaze away from the horrible mottling of shiny reds and purples, teeth grit, and stared intently at Mono, who had brought his knees up and pressed tightly together, and was practically hiding behind the book as he read. RK wished he could bore through the book and make Mono pay attention to what was happening, but he seemed intent on ignoring this. The book wasn’t that interesting! RK didn’t think so, at least. It mostly just sounded like a panic attack so far as he could tell as Six undid all of Mono’s work and teased her nails across the tender, swollen flesh.

When suddenly warm, slimy wetness enveloped his fingers, RK squeaked and jerked back, dragging his skin across Six’s teeth. New pain laced up his arm, almost doubling him over as he grit his teeth.

Mono had stopped reading, his dark eyes peeking fearfully over the top of the book. Six continued to lave her tongue along RK’s broken fingers. RK choked down a pained whine. Every jostle and shift of flesh against flesh burned up his arm. He was trying so hard not to cry again. In front of Mono was one thing (and one time), but never in front of Six.

It was really, really, _really_ difficult.

Then Six bit down, and it became impossible. RK screamed and yanked his hand back, but Six kept her grip around his wrist, and her mouth around his fingers.

“Six,” Mono gasped, weak and quiet, clutching the book like a shield. RK couldn’t even care that he was being completely useless, because _Six was chewing on his fingers_.

She crawled on RK, shoving him down to stop him from slithering to freedom. He clawed at her shoulder with his good hand. Her chewing had become more aggressive, needles under his skin, stabbing over and over as she tore already broken skin. Tears tracked hot down his cheeks.

RK started scratching at her face, instead, and got one good hit in before she reared back, hand to her eye, and punched him. RK kept scratching, barely registering the attack in his panic. So far that was all that had stopped her.

“Mono!” Six yelped, slapping RK’s good hand away from her face. 

Mono hesitated, RK would have given him that if he was in any state of mind to care, before he rushed over and caught RK’s good hand, his shoulder, holding him down.

“Mono!” RK shrieked. _Traitor._ There was no hesitation, now. Mono just turned his head guiltily away as Six wrangled RK’s shattered hand back down.

After that was a blur of crying, screaming, and flailing uselessly against the combined weight of Mono and Six as she gnawed his fingers into a bloody pulp. Mono curled over RK, still holding him down, still not saving him, and whispered that it was okay, it’ll be over soon, it’s just how Six was while peppering his face with teary kisses.

RK couldn’t breathe with Mono smothering him, with Six heavy on his stomach. She continued doing wet, crunching, slurping things, and all RK could see was Mono’s hollow cheeks and black, dead eyes. Breathe. Breathe. _Breathe._

As he drifted between consciousness and a numb blindness, RK felt like everything was slipping back and forth, far away and far too close. He focused on the strangeness of the feeling, especially the parts that felt kind of like it wasn’t even him. He was just one of the shadow kids on the periphery, face a blank, cold mask. Barely even real.

As Six lost interest in the remnants of his fingers (was that bone? Just don’t think about it), blood all down her front and matching the satisfied flush of her face, she started undulating against RK. Oh, he knew that movement. It was easier to see when she yanked up Mono’s face by his hair, then clawed at the button’s of RK’s coat, revealing the pale skin and shadowed bone underneath. RK didn’t like that, but it wasn’t happening to him, not really. If it was, he’d feel her nails clawing red furrows. He’d feel her fumbling between his legs and rubbing at him until he was hard enough to slip down on.

RK didn’t want to watch this, but like the other shadows, he couldn’t turn away. He didn’t want to be a part of this gross and intimate coupling, as Mono’s fingers traced the lines of pain on his chest far more gently than Six had been, and Six unbuttoned her own raincoat to rub up under her shirt at the little nubs of developing breasts. RK’s hand was oozing bright red blood on the fancy brocade pillows. At least Mono wasn’t curled suffocatingly over him anymore, instead petting any part of RK he could reach with one hand while the other pulled frantically at himself. RK didn’t understand how someone could be so excited while crying, while watching this, but he was already flustered and stimulated by the time he’d jumped to Six’s aid.

Not RK’s. _Six’s_.

"You're doing so good," Mono muttered, wiping away RK's tears only for more to replace them. His words did nothing to drown out the fleshy noises or the numb agony. "I'm so sorry. It'll be over soon. I love you, RK."

RK really wanted to not be a part of this, right now.


	5. Interlude: Mono

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We take a break to see what Mono's been up to while RK takes a break from reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have slept for like four hours and don't want to reread so pls tell me if I've made some grievous error re: continuity or just writing. Could I have slept instead of writing? Yes. Did I? Clearly not. Priorities.

Six was amazing, and Mono’s best friend in the world, but sometimes… Sometimes he kind of thought she wasn’t that nice. The boy who looked exactly like her was way too light in his arms. Unwieldy, but definitely lighter than he should be. Mono felt really bad about hitting him, but Six was just leading Mono to a cage, and gesturing for him to set him inside.

“I think he needs help,” Mono suggested tentatively.

Six just located a lock with a key still in it, and slammed the cage door closed, then locked it without a moment’s hesitation.

“Six?”

“He _hit_ me,” she said, and she sounded as disbelieving as Mono was. Horrible as it was to say, kids didn’t usually fight back. They didn’t know to before Six pounced. Her fingers touched the back of her head, and came away with blood.

“Do… _you_ need help?” he asked. The boy had been hell-bent on killing her. Mono reminded himself of that at the twinge of guilt that he was focusing more on Six, who was standing and conscious and seemed mostly unharmed.

“He hit _me_ ,” she repeated quietly to herself. Or maybe she was in shock. Mono put a hand on her shoulder, drawing her attention.

“That kid?” he prompted, head jerking toward the nearest door. Six had been so excited at the idea of another kid when Mono reported what he saw. He didn’t know why she didn’t want to eat this boy, but was thankful for that. Even if it also made him a little jealous to have to share her. They weren’t actually related, both Six and he had verified that, but they must mean _something_ to each other.

“Right.”

“Are you sure you’re fine?” Mono prompted again when Six just stood there, looking at the boy slumped in the cage.

She nodded, then turned right around and left. Mono stood there awkwardly. Was he okay to help the boy? He thought so, but didn’t want to upset Six by messing around with him if she didn’t want him to. Small things, then. Until he could check with Six.

Mono sank down beside the cage and reached in to check the boy’s pulse. Fluttering, but there. He slipped his other hand in and tried to get him into a more comfortable position. Mono had just sort of dropped him initially, and his face was pressed uncomfortably against the bars.

Just… sorta twist him here, push him there. There wasn’t really any room in the cage to lay comfortably. The boy was as limp as a rag doll. Mono eventually got him tucked a little more upright in the front corner, legs curled and hands folded in his lap. There, that looked as comfortable as anything else.

Mono’s hand lingered on the boy’s. His fingers were thin and fragile. He must not eat well at all. 

Again, Mono checked his pulse, pressing his fingers to the soft skin just below his jaw. Still alive. His breathing was so shallow, a weak almost silent whistle through his slack lips.

Mono moved from his pulse to his mouth. It really was like looking at Six when she slept, if a little less drool-y. His fingers traced the boy’s dry lips, his closed eyelids, traced down the bridge of his nose. Six was never patient enough to let Mono do something like this, at least not without a few nips for his trouble. Mono thought back to the boy biting his wrist. Were they really, _really_ sure he wasn’t related to Six?

Still breathing. Mono felt gently along the boy’s lower teeth and met with no resistance whatsoever. Tilt, trace the fall of watery, weak light along his cheeks, the way his hair hung where it wasn’t sticky and caked in blood. When Mono felt he’d committed the shape of Six’s face on his fingertips to memory, he let the boy’s head slump forward again.

His fingers trailed down the boy’s arm, to his knee, to the manacle around his ankle. It was so heavy and cold. Mono had to wonder at the story behind that, but felt it would be rude to ask. Especially after knocking him out and caging him up. That… wasn’t the best way to make friends, Mono thought with a grimace.

Food. He’ll be hungry when he wakes up, and food was always a good way to get to know a person. Mono hoped it’d go a ways to fixing the bridge he’d not meant to burn.

He wandered off hoping to find the kitchen again in this maze, trusting the boy to not die when he wasn’t being watched if he hadn’t died already.

Mono had some idea of cooking, which was good, since once he found the kitchen and took a better inventory, it looked like the boy had already gone through all the canned stuff.

A pot, some old veggies that he picked sprouting bits off of, sausage and plenty of water. Light a burner, and now he basically had a soup!

Feeling very pleased with himself, Mono balanced carefully just out of range of the heat, stirring the bits and bobs floating around before shoving a top on it and leaving it to boil.

He ran back to check on the boy. Mono pressed his face to the bars of his cage, studying him for a few heartbeats as the Maw swayed gently around them. His breathing looked a little steadier, and his pulse felt stronger. The porcelain pallor of his skin began to color from deathly white to more natural tones. Good, good. He hadn’t murdered him.

Back to the pot, stir, poke some veggies to see how soft they were, then back to the boy. Mono was getting a better workout than he expected, but he was so excited for him to wake up so Mono could ask him all about Six’s life here.

Back, and back. The soup finished before the boy woke up. Mono turned it down to a simmer after replacing the water it had burned away boiling wildly. He stayed by the soup a bit longer, until all the water was warm, and spooned it out into some cups. This time he returned more carefully, but almost dropped the soup when he saw the boy stirring. He barely had the presence of mind to set it down before darting over and reaching into the cage. When the boy flinched, Mono stroked his hair comfortingly, then offered dinner.

“Maybe Six would like some,” the boy said, and Mono suddenly had a lot more questions that he probably should have had originally. Questions he wasn’t sure he wanted the answers to, if his own guessing was any indication. Rooms crammed full of beds and childish scrawls. Cages for things too small to be adults. Everything with locks. And a boy who didn’t seem at all surprised to find himself in one of those cages.

Mono dumped the soup. Don’t eat the meat, got it. He’d have to find something else for the boy to eat, because even if Mono wasn’t looking to bribe his forgiveness, he could see this kid did not eat a lot.

Conversation turned to Six, as it should, and suddenly the boy was touching Mono’s hand and _agreeing with him_. Kids never did that, especially when they thought they knew what Six was like. They really must be friends, despite whatever bad blood was between them now, and Mono could help them be friends again.

His gaze fell to the boy’s hand, all dirty nails and rough calluses and bony bumps. Shyly, Mono wove his own fingers between his, marveling at the tangle they made together. It sort of made his heart jump. He squeezed the boy’s fingers as Six returned. Her news that she’d not found anyone except whatever a shadow kid was only slightly dampened his excitement.

When she said “you were holding his hand,” though, that dampened it a lot. He hadn’t thought much about it. Or well, he thought a lot about it, but not about what Six would think, and Mono was struck by a sudden bout of guilt. He really should have considered how it looked to Six. How the last person whose hand he held had tried to hurt them, and the boy had definitely hurt Six. It was all a little… traitorous, wasn’t it, without context? But maybe he could explain --

Six bit him. _Hard_.

Then she shoved him against the bars, and pain exploded as his head bounced. Mono had expected something, but this? This wasn’t -- She was at his throat, nipping and licking and this wasn’t the time for that! His stuttering only seemed to fuel her as she ground him harder into the bars. _The boy was right there_.

Mono whined at the rough treatment. Even with an audience, his body responded so easily, so desperately. He clutched at the bars. He didn’t want this right now, but Six did, and -- and clearly he did, too, right? He was already humping up against her. He shouldn’t have upset her like that, so she felt she had to prove how much _she_ cared about him.

Then the boy whispered, voice laced with terror, for Six to stop, and Mono felt even _worse_. He probably didn’t even know about sex, and thought it was something bad. It wasn’t bad, Mono wanted to say. He wanted this. Instead, he just started crying.

Six licked at his face as she undulated, one hand pulling Mono’s dick out as his face burned even brighter. She got her shorts down around her knees, enough to give him access as he rutted up against her, inside her. Poor Six. He must have frightened her so bad.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he gasped as he met her move for move, until he came surrounded by her warmth and softness, as sweet and intimate as their first time, and every time after. Mono slumped against the cage bars, eyes stinging.

Six climbed off of him, legs a little splayed as fluids dribbled out. She wrinkled her cute nose, and left. Mono swallowed back more tears. There wasn’t any point in crying now. He should… he should check on the boy. He’d seemed scared. Six could definitely be intense.

Mono tucked himself away with a wince. Everything hurt. His throat and wrist. His groin, his head.

He reached in to get the boy’s attention, and winced again at the sharp sound of him hitting his own head on the back of the cage.

“She was doing something bad to you.” Oh god. He _didn’t_ know about sex. Mono’s gut twisted, that this was his introduction to it. How could he explain this was normal? He stumbled through explanations, until the boy interrupted.

“Making love,” he said.

Mono was instantly relieved. So he hadn’t traumatized him -- he’d known already, he was just shy, or confused still. Mono _had_ whacked him pretty hard.

“It’s not love,” the boy continued. “It’s not fine.”

Mono snapped at him. He shouldn’t. He knew that. He was a little kid, he was hurt, and scared. He didn’t know what he was saying. If Mono could just show him, just -- he didn’t even know. The boy had such a wrong idea of -- of _everything_. And he just kept talking.

“It’s not your fault when she hurts you.”

“I know that!” Mono squeaked. Why would he think that? Why would he -- Mono had gotten to his feet at some point, and his hands were clenching his cuffs. The boy slouched forward, mumbled some agreement, then went silent.

Mono stared at him to make sure he wasn’t suffering some delayed problems with his head injury, then turned and left, entire body stiff. He had to…. He had to go process some stuff.

  
  


After wandering the Maw, seeing the horrors left to rot, Mono found Six playing with one of the Nomes that the place seemed infested with. He had processed exactly nothing in all that time. He didn’t even know how to begin, so went to the person he trusted most. He stood back several yards, scanning the large, empty room while the poor thing squeaked and struggled. Leeches hung from pipes on the edges of the room, and water trickled toward a central drain.

When the Nome’s sounds stopped, Mono crept forward. 

“Hey,” he said as she dropped the body. She wiped the blood from her mouth. It was dark and dull, so Mono could easily pretend it was something else.

Six tilted her head as Mono sank down next to her. When he didn’t say anything, just pulled his knees up to his chest, she knocked him gently with her shoulder. She seemed to be doing much better than before. Six really could take a wallop and just keep kicking.

“Sorry,” Mono mumbled. “I just… I don’t know. That boy said some stuff...”

She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. “I’ll eat him, if you want.”

That got his attention. It was said so easily, and it also, shamefully, comforted Mono. The other boy wasn’t as important as _him_ . “No! He’s your friend -- and -- and --” _he held my hand_. “I’m glad you have someone you don’t want to eat.”

“Don’t wanna eat you.”

Mono smiled at how easily she said that. Six always knew what to say to make him feel better. The boy just didn’t know Six. He didn’t get to see her like this.

He fidgeted with his buttons, not sure how to bring up what was on his mind. Not because he was afraid to, or afraid she’d hurt him, but… Mono didn’t want to think that Six didn’t love him, and that she was hurting him.

She didn’t even know about sex until _he_ showed her. So if anything, Mono was to blame for any hurt Six might accidentally cause him. She was just enthusiastic.

He watched as Six picked at the papery skin of the Nome, clever little fingers finding every crevice and crease. The first time they’d made love, nothing had been horrible. They were cozy under some floorboards as Viewers gazed longingly at their TVs above. It wouldn’t have been Mono’s first choice to lose his virginity, but he and Six were sharing breath, and she was warm in a very cold world.

They’d kissed before, furtive and fumbling in the quiet spaces between being hunted, between hunting. Six liked kissing. She said it was like biting, but without the teeth (sometimes). Mono had been so careful that he never touched her wrong or rubbed up on her every other time, but there just wasn’t any room here.

“You’re poking me,” Six giggled.

“Sorry,” Mono whispered, face immediately heating and not just from the excitement, trying to cant his hips away, even as Six gnawed gently on his lower lip. She reached down and groped at his pants. “Six!” he hissed, squishing himself against the wall. Above them, the Viewers shifted, the channel changed to something else full of static.

“C’mon,” she mumbled, following him and trapping him against the wall.

“I--” Mono caught himself. Was she -- Did she _want_ to? Mono had imagined it so many times, in so many different ways. Always with her, though. “I want to,” he squeaked out. “If -- if you --”

Six nodded, then grabbed for him again. Mono had to fight the urge to push her away, to hide himself shamefully away. He helped her get his pants down a little lower, then she was on him, rubbing up against him through her layers of clothes.

“We can,” Mono mumbled. Was it too forward to bring it up? That they could do more? Six really seemed to want to. “If you wanna… take off your shorts….”

He hadn’t realized someone could strip that quickly while laying prone in a crawlspace. Mono almost backed away from doing this. He didn’t really know the details, himself. He’d seen things on TV, but he didn’t really _know_.

But Six was back against him, a leg hiked up over his hip, and Mono decided it didn’t matter. People figured this out without TV all the time, right? He bumped around down there, a hand between them as Six scratched at the bit of exposed skin beneath the edge of his shirt, until he found an entrance and they both stilled.

Then Six decided it was fine, and Mono wasn’t going to disagree. It had been a quick and messy encounter, but afterwards, Six stayed with her arms noodled all around him, and Mono hugged her close. She smelled all sweaty in a new way, and they were both gross but that didn’t seem that big a deal right now.

Mono liked to think on that after making love now. It was his best memory of sex -- not to say he didn’t love it now, but it generally hurt a lot more compared to that first time. The boy’s words tainted everything, though, even that memory.

“Hey, Six?” he asked quietly, once she’d gotten bored with the Nome and relaxed against him. At her noise of inquiry, he braced himself. “Why… Why did you do that in front of him?”

Six picked up his hand. It had bruising in the vague shape of her teeth. Together, they studied it.

“Mine,” she said simply, lacing their fingers together. “Wanted him to know.”

They’d never really discussed what they were to each other, before. There’d never been a need. It had only ever been the two of them. But now there was a third person who Six didn’t want to eat, and Mono kind of wanted to keep.

“Is he yours, too?” Mono asked tentatively. The boy was confused, but he seemed nice.

Six hummed thoughtfully, then nodded. “I can share,” she said.

Mono smiled in unexpected relief. It had just been a misunderstanding, of course. Six wasn’t upset. He leaned forward to plant a kiss on Six’s cheek, a safe distance from the smeared remnants of blood on her mouth.

“Wanna catch Nomes?” she asked.

Mono immediately nodded, and let her pull him to his feet. Hand in hand, they prowled through the Maw.


End file.
